How to Build Habits that You Can Stick To

If you feel like you are trapped in a cycle of thoughts and behaviors that hold you back from living the life you want, it may be time for some positive changes. Breaking habits take time. It may involve unhooking yourself from beliefs and practices that no longer serve you. There is no shortcut habit-building. But here are some ideas on how to create ones that you can stick to.

Scale it down – Big goals are challenging and exciting when motivation is at all time high. There is nothing wrong in aiming high. But you have to be realistic about the journey and the process. Big aspirations often call for long-term and sustained actions. If you want to build habits that will help you achieve what you set out to do, you have to start small. Create mini-goals that you can focus on one step at a time.

Keep a strategic mindset – Setting goals is easy. It is the follow-through part that becomes tricky. Create SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) goals if you want to be more strategic in accomplishing the things you want to do.

Prepare to let go – Make space for new things in your life – physically and mentally. Positive transformations only happen if you make room for the unfamiliar. Clinging to old habits is instinctive, especially when faced with the unknown. But the more you hold on to physical or mental clutter, the more you prolong the process of ushering meaningful change in your life.

Declare your intentions – Make a commitment that will leave you no room to wiggle out. You can share it to as many people as you want if you are comfortable about going public with your goals. Or you can choose to declare your intentions to a tight circle of family and closest friends.

Tap into your support group – Building positive habits comes with its share of challenges. But going through all the ups and downs of the process is easier with supportive people around you. Make sure that you have a group of people like family and friends who can provide you with the encouragement, inspiration, and help you need at various points in your path towards hacking the habits you are aiming for.

Follow through with daily small steps – Small steps may not look like much. But following through with the little things every single day is one of the surest ways to creating the habits you want. Keep going regardless of how slow or small the effort may be. Great things are often accomplished by people who commit to the positive little things every day.